Wednesday, June 05, 2013

"The Art of WoW!" featuring Maribeth Olson

Maribeth Olson is the second illustrator in my new weekly summer series, "The Art of WoW!" (the Art of Women on Wednesdays). The trouble is... I really can't tell you anything about her. I was unsuccessful at finding any biographical information.

All I know is that she did fashion illustration for women's magazines during the mid-1950s.

Around 1960, Olson seems to have transitioned to doing story illustration. That she managed to land some choice cover assignments...

... as well as interior art for publications like Redbook (below) and Good Housekeeping (first image at the top of this post) suggests she was doing well.

Olson's style has the look of both Jack Potter's and Bob Peak's work from the same period. Clearly, it was a style much in demand for a time during the early '60s. For instance, here's an unsigned ad from Good Housekeeping from 1962.

Could this be by Maribeth Olson? Or is it yet another illustrator working in her, Peak's and Potter's then-popular style?

Below are several pieces by Olson from the 1964 edition of the "Childcraft, How and Why Library."

And finally, two spots by Olson from a 1965 Good Housekeeping article...

What happened next? I wish I knew. If you have any information about this talented female illustrator of the mid-20th century, please let us know.